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5/8/12

Money Saving Tips Using Ice Cube Trays

Lemon & Vinegar Garbage Disposal Cleaner Cubes

Those lowly plastic ice cube trays that have gone by the way side with all the automatic ice makers out there today, can be repurposed in a variety of ways other than ice to save you money and time. Never throw out little leftover bits of sauces/gravies/purees again!

The next time you see them at a yard sale, thrift store or even the dollar store pick a few up! Quite a few liquids and sauces can be frozen for use in cooking and household cleaning.

If you are looking for new ways to be frugal and live a frugally sustainable way of life, this is a great habit to get into. It makes you look at what your throwing out in a whole new way! I always have ziplock bags of ice cube foods lined up in my freezer, and you should consider it too!

Place pieces of lemon in each ice cube slot.
Fill each slot with vinegar.
Freeze. When cubes are frozen, pop them out into a ziploc bag labeled as garbage disposal cleaner and store in freezer. To use: Place 1-2 cubes down disposal, turn on the water and run the disposal. The vinegar and lemons will clean the disposal as they whirl around.

Pumpkin & Applesauce

I love to substitute pumpkin puree or applesauce in my baking in place of the oil in a recipe to reduce the fat. Whether you make your own pumpkin or buy a can (not pumpkin pie filling,just plain ol' pumpkin!) either will be just fine! Just, fill your ice cube trays. Freeze solid, then pop out of trays and store in labeled ziplock bags in freezer. Just pull out what you need based on the measurements mentioned earlier and microwave to thaw.

Tomato Paste

Sometimes you just need a tiny bit of tomato paste to thicken up your favorite sauce or soup. A whole can, no matter how small, is still just too much. So open a small can, fill your trays (I get about 8 cubes per can) and freeze till solid, pop out into a labeled bag and store in freezer. Just pop a cube into your sauce and watch it melt right into your dinner. Also little bits of leftover spaghetti sauce from dinner is great to freeze into cubes, no more waste!

Gravy / Soup Stock

Ever find that you have just a tiny bit of left over gravy and not sure what to do with it? For heavens sake, don't throw out all that flavor! Just pop it into your trays and freeze. Store your cubes in labeled baggies in the freezer. The next time you are making soups, casseroles, or even opening a store bought soup, pop a cube or two in for great flavor! Same if you cook meat in your crockpot or oven and get a bit of broth from it.

Yogurt or pureed fruit for smoothies

My kids love smoothies. To make it easier, you can freeze vanilla yogurt, or even mashed up fruit. Hey, we all end up with that one brown banana that no one wants to eat. Just mash it and freeze it for smoothies. (mashed banana can be used as an egg substitute too!) Same with any extra fruits. then pop into the blender with your other smoothie ingredients and wala, smoothie is done!

Coffee /Chai Tea Concentrate

I do not drink coffee or tea, so have no experience with this, but my coworkers are always dumping cold coffee out at work. What if you froze it or even Chai Tea Concentrate to make your next cold coffee drink?

Herbs

If you have some herbs in your fridge that are getting a bit old, consider chopping them up and putting them in the ice cube slots and then fill each slot with water. These herbed ice cubes are great to pop into homemade soups and other dishes!

Baby food

Before the days of magic bullets and food processors I made my own baby food. It's a heck of a lot cheaper and with today's gadgets even faster then ever! I've seen those baby bullets and they look so cool,but I usually stored a much larger variety than the number of those cute little containers, plus you don't need to spend the money on it. Make them into ice cubes and store in labeled bags in the freezer. Then pull out what you need and thaw carefully in the microwave. You can even mix those weird blends your baby likes, such as pears and squash, etc. all in the same cube!

I'm also glad I found you and your wonderful tips! While I don't had a disposal I do love lemon in my ice water. Never thought of putting then IN with the ice. Thanks for the tip...and all your others I'm putting to good use.

Great tips! Love the garbage disposal idea! I currently purchase garbage disposal cleaner. This sounds like a great way to go! : ) Happy to be a new follower. Have a great day, Hopehttp://hopefuloneblog.blogspot.com/

When I found eggs on sale, I stocked up on them. I lightly blended them with a wisk and froze them in ice cube trays. With a little measuring, I figured out that 2 cubes=1 large egg. Great for baking or scrambled eggs, and they still look sunny in the plastic zip top bag in my freezer!

When you mentioned freezing gravy I pictured my dogs' delight when they discover the ice cube I give them to play with in the summer is frozen gravy!!! lol I'll dilute to stretch it further (4 dogs in our house) and they will be thrilled!!!

you can also reuse the dogs bones that are hollow! i fill them with creamcheese or peanut butter and my dogs have a blast, because 4 dogs can be expensive i have 3 and they love when i freeze the hollow bones after they got all the other stuff out of them and give them to them the next day when thy r frozen filled, they last about 5 hours in southern heat.

I use ice trays for storing extra eggs from my hens. One egg per cube fits well. Unfortunately, after freezing, the eggs are no longer good for frying, but they are great for scrambling and for puddings and cakes. They also work for quiche. The key is to blend them well.

Ever heard of the master cleanse vinegar, cyanne & maple syrup? I mix mine in a concentrate with out water & freeze in cubes then add to my water bottles , also I freeze cucumber & berries with water & use them in big pitures of water when we cook or hang outside . Adds a bit of flavor to the water, my kids love it

I have not heard of the master cleanse, it sounds intriguing. The cyanne scares me, but that's the cleanse part!LOL. I love the cucumbers and berries, that sounds so refreshing! Thanks for the ideas, I may research that master cleanse!

I made and froze all of my daughter's baby food. It made everything so much less expensive and easy. I definitely need to get better at making little sauce cubes to grab out and use for lunches and dinners. Thanks for the good ideas! I am stopping by from the Homestead Blog Hop.

I make my own yogurt, so after I make a batch using a couple tablespoons of the store bought yogurt I freeze the rest in my ice cube tray. Then, when I'm ready to make another batch I just take out a couple cubes of the store bought, let them thaw at room temp (or add a little of the heated milk if I'm impatient) and use that as the starter for my next batch. It makes the store bought last a lot longer, and the cultures in the yogurt still work great even after freezing.

Terrific post and so wonderfully simple. I just love the garbage disposal cleaner cubes!! Thanks for coming to Natural Mother's “Seasonal Celebration Sunday.” I would love to see you again next week!! Rebecca x

Deaanna, (Love that name, it's my Daughter-in-law's name!) Thanks for the invite, I'm dashing out the door in a moment, but would love to come back and link up! Can't wait to rummage around your site!Thanks,Jan

I think the best advice I can give is: 1) talk to your local producer manager at your favorite "community" store (not the big box nat'l ones) and ask when or how they rotate produce. What you're wanting is to know if they'd ever call you if they had some produce they couldn't keep but that you could buy for making baby food. You'll be steaming and mushing them up so they don't need to look pretty.Or if they won't call you is there a certain day where they maybe marking some produce down? BUT the think to remember is the older they are the more nutrients they've lost, so that lead's me to2) watch for frozen vegies on sale. Frozen vegies traditionally have more nutrients than fresh in your store (unless you get a local farmers' market where it was just picked) because the vegies are flash frozen immediately after picking preseving their nutrients. Fresh produce in your typical store is several weeks old (if not more).3) Think outside the box: avacado's, are great and don't forget to cook some high nutrient lentils and mash them and mix them in with other vegies, they are cheap and quick cooking, and easily take on the taste of what they are mixed with so is a great mix in food. Does that help?

The garbage disposal cubes are pure genius. I will be doing this for sure.Also...why have I NEVER thought of the tomato paste one?! You are SO right...no mater how small the can you purchase, you never seem to be able to use it all when you only need a couple tablespoons for a recipe. Plus, it is more economical (at my store at least) to purchase a large can. I love your site.